When will my car die?

[HokemBokem]

I was wondering i have a 1996 buick regal olympic edition and it has almost 90,000 miles on it. Some guys at work have some fart can civics and said there cars are gonna last so much longer than mine, so when should a lot of problems start happening and what kinda stuff will go wrong?

[cutlsp]

take care of your car and it will remain faster then their cars for quite some time . ricers are full of bs about american cars man at least you can fix your car yourself they can't

[Canada]

If it is the 3800.......well, its been around for ever and is damned near bullet proff.....good ol gallon motor.

 

If its a 3100....well, its been around for quite sometime as well, and if you can keep the intake sealed, it will be just as bullet proof.

[phantomshado]

my moms old car, a 92 gp now still running with more than 300K miles on the clock.

my car is rapidly approaching the 150K mile mark, my 89 cutlass had 210K when I sold it. The 60*v6 is a tank design, regular maintenance, and these will outlast everything, ever.

[THe_DeTAiL3R]

I've heard of GM V6s getting incredible amounts of mileage on their motors. 200k+ miles fo sho!

[White93z34]

GM v6 cars can just about go forever i almost bought a 230k lesabre recently, and the 230k didn't phase me, i see plenty of 3.1s well over 180k and 200k even after liveing some really hard lives they keep goin, basicly if you keep up on general matniance and don't beat it everyday of its life you should last deep into the 200k range with no more tehn general matniance. and if you really want to think about it those ricer's cars will probably not make it to 150k with them raceing it and beating their cars withen an inch of their lives every day.

[Dirty Rockstar]

I have 181,xxx on my MPFI 3.1.. Still runnin strong.. Needs a tune-up.. I have a 2.5 with 256,xxx on it.. Snapped a timing gear.. Fix the gear, it'll still run! I take DAMN good care of the motor before anything else on a car.. And the 3800.. I ran one overheating w/o knowing it for about 1 miles.. That fucker STILL runs sweet, quick, and quiet..

[GPdriver1986]

Don't listen to what those ricers say, I can tell you any GM V6 can outlast a Honda I4 anyday, if its properly maintained and not beat on. Most of the civics right now are beat on and most of them get engine failures at about 200k km. I can't complain about GM engines, Ive seen a Olds 88 and a Transport in junkyard with over 300k km on the 3.8 engine, I started both of them up and they ran like new. I also saw 2 GPs with over 300k km (3.1 MPFI), both of them ran, one of them had a tick but the other one ran like new. I also saw a 3100 94 GP with 200k km and it ran like new. Things like alternators,waterpumps,sensors, etc will all fail through the cars life and thats impossible to stop.

[Stevo]

Imports have the knack for rusting through the fastest.

 

Where I live. Almost all civics over 3 years have rust in the wheel wells.

 

My 88 Cutlass has 260,000km on it and I think I can get twice that.

 

I gassed up with it one day and a guy with an 89 pulled up. I asked him about his car and he showed me it had 500,000km+ on the odometer.

 

When a civic gets 200,000km it's ready to die, if it was even lucky to get that far.

[jeremy]

take care of it and it should easily last another 100K

[DiscoStudd]

You say you have the 3800? They're designed from the get go to last up to 300K without a rebuild. Since you have a 96, you have the 3800 Series II (L36.) You may have to look into getting the revised upper and lower intake manifolds installed. The early L36's such as yours had problems with the EGR tube that passes through the upper plastic manifold melting the manifold. The new design has a different EGR passage.

 

My 95 Regal has the Series I 3800 (L27) and I just rolled over 174K. My previous car was a 92 LeSabre with the L27 that I traded with just over 200K.

 

3800's are virtually bulletproof, so just smile and wave at those rice boys when you see them broken down on the side of the road...

[vegaslumina]

my moms old car, a 92 gp now still running with more than 300K miles on the clock.

my car is rapidly approaching the 150K mile mark, my 89 cutlass had 210K when I sold it. The 60*v6 is a tank design, regular maintenance, and these will outlast everything, ever.

 

wow 300k, i hope the lumi makes it that far

[phantomshado]

that same 300K+ gp makes them more than just another parts car, and I'm not even a gp guy [yeah, cutlass!]

 

what makes that one even better is that its got 5 deer slaying tagged onto itself. Mustve been built on a weds. still not as tough as the chevy celebrity of my extreme youth.

 

Now that was a tank.

[mrdarkside2k3]

I got a 93 Cutlass Supreme with a 3.1 in it and it is sittin at like 219,000 right now. When I get my few minor issues fixed (previous owner mishaps) she will be a fine runnin machine. She cruises pretty steady right now tho.

[Goph]

If it have been taken care of and when it have a problem is fixed right away then it should last a long time. If it have been beat to shit and not taken good care of like i think mine has before i got it then say good by to it soon.

 

any car that have been taken good care of should last a long time.

[Darkness]

Hate to bump an old post, but,

 

I just picked up an 89 TGP a few weeks ago. Original engine, original turbo, just passed 237k miles and still runs great.

 

There is something to be said about regular oil changes.